Thank you for visiting my web site! I hope everyone's Holiday Season was full of joy and happiness. I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2008 and hope the year is full of birdies and low rounds! Let's get the year started early and with some tips to start our golf season!

  Do you want your golf ball to go a longer distance? You must relax your wrists and allow the club to move faster than your arms. This is why it "appears" some golfers do not swing fast and the ball travels a long distance. Have you ever struck a golf shot and said WOW that felt easy? You did not swing easy. You allowed the club to swing faster than your arms. Practice to make that a habit!

  Do you ever "Top the Ball" and have it roll along the ground? When you swing try to "strike the tee" or "brush the grass". DO NOT try to hit the ball. If you strike the tee the ball will go in the air!

  Would you like to take 5 to 15 shots off of your score? Practice 20, 40, and 60 yd pitch shots. Practice these shots until you can put the ball on the green 90% of the time from these distances and you WILL shoot lower scores.

  Turn your 8's and 9's on holes to 6's. Play smart! If you have a shot that you can only strike successfully 50% of the time, change your plan and play safe. Why try to play that shot 200 yards over water when 50% of the time we may end up in the water. Please take you 9 iron and lay up short of the water. Then play another 9 iron on the green and make a 5 or a 6. You have now saved two to three shots on one hole. Great Job!

  If you have taken the fall and winter off from playing or swinging, start your golf season early with a lesson. So many of golfers say they will wait until Spring ("when I start playing golf") to take a lesson. If you need to make some small changes, these changes may take several weeks to become habits. Would it be great if those several weeks were in February not in May? Take a few lessons early this season and start your year off on the right foot. Let those early lessons help you shoot lower scores early in 2008. Even if those lessons are not with me, take a lesson.

  Hit some practice balls in January and February. Most ranges in Central Ohio have heaters over the tees and you are out of the weather. If you have never practiced in the winter, let's do something different this golf season. Watch the weather and go to the range once or twice in January and February. If you do not know where to practice may I suggest Eastland Golf Center. (on Hamilton Rd) or Westerville Golf Center. (on Schrock Rd) The temp. is going to be in the 50's and 60's the week I am writing this to you. Go hit some balls this week. Take it slow and easy and have some fun!

  The last word in the previous tip is to have fun. Here is an idea: In your 2008 season make it a goal to have FUN when you play golf. You may laugh at this, but we all have friends and have played with people that always get mad with every poor shot. They may have expectations that are higher than were their games are on that day. Many golfers are more mad, upset and tense after a round of golf than they were when they started. In 2008 make it a goal to have fun when you play golf. During your round stop and think how pretty the day is, you are spending time with friends on the course, look how pretty the golf course is, be thankful that you are healthy enough to play golf that day, (many of us have lost dear golfing partners or family members who are not with us anymore to play golf), just enjoy they fact that you are able to play golf that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy that you are NOT at work. I promise in the long run it will help you shoot lower scores and if not, you still have had a fun day of golf. Relax and have fun, we are after all just playing a game.

  Play smarter in 2008. Play the each hole of your round smarter in 2008. Think about your shot and the penalty if you happen to not strike the perfect shot. Stop for a moment and think, "what happens on this 230 yard 3 wood into the wind, if I don't fly the ball over the water to that tucked pin behind the bunker?" Ask yourself another question in that situation. "Can I make par or birdie by hitting a 7 iron to my favorite s.w. distance?" If you will ask yourself this question several times in your round next year, you may save 3 to 10 shots in 18 holes. By the way, there is also nothing wrong with laying up on par 4's if you can not get to the green. REMEMBER our job during 2008 with our golf is to 1. HAVE FUN and 2. SHOOT LOWER SCORES. If you can make two or three better mental decisions in your rounds, you will shoot lower scores. Keep a thought in you mind- "I am not playing Tiger Woods today. I need to shoot the lowest score I can today"

  Spend sometime this winter thinking about your golf last year. Ask yourself some honest questions. What part or parts of my game made me shoot higher scores last year? It sounds simple, but most people do not work on the parts of their game that hurts them the most. If you averaged 4 three putts every nine holes, please spend 3 hours a week next year putting. If you have trouble pitching the ball on the green from 40 yards, please do not go practice you drives. Most of us are busy in this life with church, family, work and "stuff" that just fills the day. If you are lucky enough to
have several hours a week to practice, please practice the parts of your game that will help you have more fun and shoot lower scores.

  During your swing you CAN NOT care about results.(Paul has gone mad!) read on! Have you ever struck a shot out of the trees that you thought, I can not hit this shot and yet you struck it perfect. Inside, after the great shot you may have even said WOW that was a surprise. Well, here is the secrets to what just happened. You focused on the shot at hand and the target (the small area in between the trees) relaxed and made your swing. You were not thinking about the results during the swing you just swung the club with no worries. Your expectations were not the #1 thing in you mind. You may say to yourself "well I will aim at the hole in the trees and just swing and let the results just happen". This mind set is how most good golf is played. Try this in your next round. Aim down the fairway and focus on your target. When is comes time to swing do not worry about the result of the shot or the score on the hole. It is NOT easy, but it is worth working on to help you shoot lower scores. Here is another example: I am sure most of us have done this at one time in our golf careers. You know when you have hit that second ball O.B. or that third ball in the pond and you say to yourself, "I do not care anymore". Funny how the next ball in always a great shot. Funny how our second try at that five-footer we missed ALWAYS goes in. In 2008 work hard during you swing to NOT worry about results. Swing and have fun in 2008.